Saeed Anwar’s 194 way better than my double century: Fakhar
KARACHI: Pakistan’s rising batting star Fakhar Zaman has emphatically declared that Saeed Anwar’s epic knock against India was a far better achievement than his own record-breaking double century during last month’s ODI series in Zimbabwe.
The affable Fakhar stole the limelight at the PCB’s Annual Cricket Awards ceremony, which was held in collaboration with Titans Autographs and Memorabilia, by paying glowing tribute to Saeed who scored a memorable 194 — a world record that stood for six years — from only 146 balls at Chennai in May 1997 during the Independence Cup clash which Pakistan won by 35 runs.
“There is no doubt in my mind that nobody can ever come close to matching that stupendous innings from Saeed bhai. It was a phenomenal achievement considering it came against India in sweltering conditions,” Fakhar said after receiving Rs2.5 million special award for the most outstanding performance during the ceremony held at a five-star hotel on Wednesday night.
“Records are there to be broken and centuries are scored every now and then but in my view there is no comparison between my innings [of 210 not out] in Bulawayo and the one played by Saeed bhai who I rate as one of the greatest one-day batsmen.”
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Saeed Anwar, a left-hander like Fakhar, scored 8,824 runs (averaging 45.52) and hit 20 centuries in 247 ODIs in a glittering 14-year career before retiring after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. He also made 4,052 runs in 55 Tests with 11 hundreds after bagging a pair on debut against the West Indies at Faisalabad in November 1990.